AAU Teammates Gabe Cupps, Reed Sheppard Discuss Future at Indiana, Kentucky
Gabe Cupps and Reed Sheppard have formed an eye-opening duo for the Midwest Basketball Club. The combination of Cupps' leadership, smarts and shooting have paired well with Sheppard's athleticism and 3-point range.
The backcourt tandem most recently competed at the Adidas 3-Stripes Select event in Rock Hill, S.C. over the weekend. Cupps and Sheppard sat down with Jeff Goodman and Rob Dauster of The Field of 68 podcast to discuss each other's games and their collegiate futures. Watch the full interview HERE.
But after running the show together since eighth grade, Cupps and Sheppard are heading to rival college programs: Indiana and Kentucky. Cupps, a 6-foot-2 point guard, will play his senior season at Centerville High School outside of Dayton, Ohio before joining head coach Mike Woodson and the Indiana Hoosiers.
"He always brings the most energy to the game and he's always a dog on the defensive end," Sheppard said of Cupps on The Field of 68. and on the offensive end he knows how to get you open and he knows when to take his shot, when to screen and pass and cut and he's a great talker so it's been a blessing to play with him."
With his father's 20 years of coaching experience, Cupps' upbringing was been centered around basketball. And when Cupps visited Bloomington, he felt a similar vibe from Indiana fans, whose focus is always on the Hoosiers.
"My family has just been nothing but basketball," Cupps said on The Field of 68. "We've really known nothing else, and Indiana really felt like home."
Cupps is looking forward to watching Indiana this year, a team he believes has a lot of potential. Cupps recognizes Woodson's defensive focus, but he also believes the Hoosiers have enough talent to become a high-scoring offensive team.
"I think coach Woodson, his purpose for coming back to Indiana is really cool, as well," Cupps said on The Field of 68. "He's a super loyal guy, and he takes care of the people around him."
Cupps' AAU backcourt mate Sheppard is a 6-foot-3 combo guard from North Laurel High School in London, Ky. He's committed to play for John Calipari's Kentucky Wildcats, following in the footsteps of his father Jeff, a two-time National Champion at Kentucky in 1996 and 1998.
This path would historically lead to Cupps and Sheppard matching up in college, but renewing the Indiana-Kentucky regular season series has been on hold since Christian Watford's game-winner in 2011. The schools haven't played since Indiana's round of 32 win over Kentucky in the 2016 NCAA Tournament, and recent talks of rekindling the rivalry have stalled. Perhaps Cupps and Sheppard can help bring the rivalry back?
"It might not be Bloomington, Lexington, I don't know," Woodson said. "But however way we can get it done, I'll take it ... I'm not going to let it die. I'm going to stay on [Calipari's] heels about getting the Kentucky-Indiana series back on the table because I just think over the years, man, that was a hell of a game, going to Lexington and them coming down to Bloomington."
Sheppard is a five-star recruit in the class of 2023, ranked No. 21 in the nation, according to 247Sports Composite. He was the 2022 Kentucky Gatorade Player of the Year after averaging 25.5 points, 7.6 assists, 6.8 rebounds and 4.4 steals last season, which included a 50-point game.
"He's very athletic," Cupps said of Sheppard on The Field of 68. "A lot of people don't know it until he just takes off on people."
Cupps is just inside the top 100 at No. 99, making him a four-star prospect in the class of 2023. As a junior, Cupps averaged 14.2 points, 6.8 assists and 2.5 rebounds per game.
"I think Indiana is getting a really good basketball player," Sheppard said of Cupps on The Field of 68. "A really smart player that is going to do everything that he needs to do to help the team succeed. He's never going to back talk the coaches, he's never going to get mad at the coaches when they yell at him or coach him, he's a very coachable player. On the court and off the court, he's very vocal. He's a goofy guy, he's going to be himself always making everybody laugh."
But regardless of where they fall, Cupps and Sheppard both share a similar mentality of never looking at these kinds of rankings.
"I have an inner desire to try to be the best player I can be, and rankings don't justify that, don't push me to work harder," Cupps said on The Field of 68. "My dad has always told me that those are just opinions, like everything else in the world it's just an opinion. I've just got to stay focused on trying to become the best me."
Cupps and Sheppard are approaching a new era of college athletics, where NIL has become a major factor in recruiting and the transfer portal. The duo agreed that players are starting to make college decisions based on NIL money, but they hope that this aspect doesn't overwhelm the college game.
"I think players should be able to make money off their name," Cupps said on The Field of 68. "They've worked hard, and I think that is something they should be able to do. I just hope it doesn't take over the game. Basketball should be the focus, winning should be the focus. I don't want guys just playing the game for money. It's a lot deeper than that, and I think the game deserves better than that."
As they approach their senior seasons in high school, Sheppard said a big focus for both of them will be getting stronger and more mature. He recognizes that a higher level of work ethic is required in college and knows their games have to improve as a whole.
But no matter where he goes, one quality about Cupps stands out to Sheppard in particular. Spanning two seasons, Cupps led Centerville to 45 straight wins, including a state title in 2021 and a state-runner up in 2022.
"He's going to make Indiana win," Sheppard said of Cupps. "When he's out there on the court, he's going to make the right plays, and he's going to make Indiana really good."
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